In the past, detector crystal surfaces of chemical compounds have been hampered in quality of performance by cleavage steps which result when the chemical crystals are cleaved along the (III) crystallographic plane.
More recently the usefulness of chemical solutions to remove irregularities on crystal surfaces has been demonstrated by several investigators. Polishes have been developed for such materials as NaCl and KCl to produce high quality laser windows with little scattering. High quality, low scattering surfaces are also of interest in performing calorimetry measurements and determining absorption coefficients of various crystals.
The crystals CaF.sub.2 and BaF.sub.2 have been employed in radiation absorption measurements work. In order to render these crystals useful to the degree required, particularly, in laser radiation absorption measurement work, the crystal surface is required to be free of roughness and cleavage steps. When the crystal surface does not have the required smoothness absorption can occur which results in heating and failure of the crystal.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a method to remove irregularities on crystal surfaces of CaF.sub.2 and BaF.sub.2.
Another object of this invention is to provide chemical polishes for removing irregularities on crystal surfaces of CaF.sub.2 and BaF.sub.2.